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This is the Space where I ramble. Do leave comments, they will help me improve this space and know what kind of posts caught your attention

Sunday, June 15, 2014

A question for all of you: What do you want to hear about?

So, after my first two blogs on the 'journey', which isn’t my journey alone but those of many others, so parts of if are shared, other lived alone, but told here from my perspective and voice. I heard back from many friends that they were glad that I was finally writing again and reflecting on some of the issues that have challenged me in the past and ones that continue to challenge me today.
There is a dear friend of mine, who I have worked with, ranted with, cried and laughed with for a few years now. And no we have still actually never met in person, she is one of my sisters form another mother, Robyn Baron. I reached out to her today and asked her if she wanted to write a few blogs together since some of the things I have been wanting to write about, the two of us have spent many a day/night on long skype calls across the globe with our pots of coffee ranting about. So yes, you shall be hearing from the 'gender mosters' ( Robyn and Jasveen) soon!
I was sharing with her some of the questions/topics I have had in my mind for a while to write about and we decided what could be more feminist way than leaving the choice with you to tell us what you want to hear about next. (We are exploring finding a site that will allow us to have a collective/shared space where friends can post too- and we can really explore topics as a feminist community that has worked on this issues individually and collectively-ideas on that welcome too!)
The running list of topics/themes that I have right now is ( a lot of them interconnected):
  1. Feminist dilemma’s in humanitarian work - humanitarian structure and the power relations inherent in the system and its processes-dynamics and how humanitarian feminists engage with it
  2. Women divided/movement divided- What brings us together and what tears us apart. Politics and the women’s movement
  3. Working within and outside of systems and structures- challenges and compromises
  4. Where is the third wave feminism? Or are their waves anymore
  5. Why we still need Feminism?
  6. Why aren’t feminists calling themselves feminists anymore?
  7. As a Humanitarian community we had to move to systems- all the ism' like professionalism,  – but as a result we depoliticized.
  8. Taking over the feminist language by the mainstreaming language – diluting the intent and impact
  9.  Reclaiming our language
  10.  How do we understand ‘political’?
  11. Tyranny of the humanitarian idea- everything we do is saving lives? using guilt so we don’t enagage with things that we need to-  insidious ways of  organisational cultures- self-sacrificing- patriarchal culture we all exist in.To quote Robyn and I agree with this statement completly .  We shouldn’t be afraid to call it like it is because the only change that can happen is one that happens when we call it.
  12. Living by/conforming to dictates of humanitarian work and feminist work: Contradictions?
  13. The feminists of today- across borders, race, class, sectors, -because the personal is still political!#
  14. Why hearing the word mainstreaming makes me cringe and want to crawl up /scream at the same time!
  15.  My feminist compass
  16. Feminism and faith- belief in both and the inherent contradictions or not!
  17. Feminist relationships- sisterhood.
  18. How professionalization of humanitarian work has taken a lot of the politics out of it- strands that were political has been depoliticized- feminism

Let me know what of the above interests you the most, and/or feel free to add more topics.




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